Barn Full of Memories: Dean Karow

What year did you start farming, and what year did you retire? I started farming with my dad when I graduated from high school in 1970. I started to step away when my son and daughter-in-law wanted to buy one of the farms in 2014.

Tell us about your farm when you started and describe what it looked like when you retired, including how many cows you milked when you retired. When I started farming with my dad, we bought a second farm, and I milked cows there. We drove back and forth doing farm work; that was tough, especially in the winter. We were milking close to 60 with buckets and a step-saver at both farms. My dad put a pipeline in his barn in the late 1970s. The barn I was milking in was not really set up for a pipeline, so we always milked with buckets there. In 1993, my dad was 70 years old and was not in the best shape physically for doing chores, so we sold off some cattle and brought the best ones back here to his farm. We milked between 50 and 60 cows until Mark and Terri took over. Another thing that changed was that we always had Guernseys until the 1990s. Mark wanted to have Holsteins.

What were some of the big advancements you made during your career? Putting the pipeline in over here would be one. Moving from picking corn to shelling corn would be another. Another would be adding a total mixed ration mixer

What did you love about milking cows? I just always really loved the cows. After a day in the field, it was relaxing for me to come into the barn and milk them. Then, there was always the challenge of breeding better cows and striving to make a little more milk. I bred all my own cows, and there is just something about whenever calf is born that amazes you; it is a really good feeling.

What was the highlight of your dairy career? Back in 1996, we had a really nice homebred Guernsey cow that the kids showed. She actually won supreme champion at the Central Wisconsin State Fair, and I am not sure if there has ever been another Guernsey to do that. She was not out of one of the top bulls or anything. She was actually reserve grand champion of the junior Guernsey show at World Dairy Expo. Mark showed her that year, and I think it was a highlight for him, too, even though he is not necessarily a fan of Guernseys.

What is the biggest challenge you faced in your career, and how did you overcome it? We dealt with some challenges with Johne’s disease that we worked hard to eradicate. We did all the vaccinating and fecal samples and culling out when they came back positive. I would say feed quality was also a challenge we overcame. At the time, we had smaller equipment and were trying to make crops on both farms and it was hard to get the quality we wanted. Now, everything is mostly chopped.

If there is one thing you wished you could have done differently during your farming career, what would it be? I think I would have tried going to a TMR sooner and done things differently to improve feed quality. I also think I would have maybe spent money using some higher-end bulls to improve the genetics and the cows more.

What piece of equipment or technology has been introduced that you wish you had for your dairy career? I think it is pretty interesting what they are able to do with these collars that monitor the cows and things like that. Robotic milking is intriguing to me; it is probably not something I would have adopted, but it is interesting to see how it works. And now, with the precision farming technology, it seems like you just sit in the tractor and push buttons.

What do you miss most about dairy farming? Probably the cows, working with them every day, watching how they improve over the years from generation to generation. It is always fun to see them when they are out on pasture. I always enjoyed bringing the cows in, even when we did not have a four-wheeler to get them; it was a nice and peaceful walk. I always enjoyed watching the crops, too.

What advice would you give to a young farmer today? I would tell a young farmer today that, if they do not have family ties to a dairy farm to work into, find an older farmer who does not have someone to take over his farm and see if you can work out a deal with them because you do not want to jump in with both feet and start out with a huge debt load.

What is your tie to the dairy industry today? I still drive tractor here a little bit, chop corn stalks and things like that. My grandson is a pretty active tractor driver and loves to do it, so I step back and let him do it. I still like to go to World Dairy Expo and watch the shows there and see what cows are winning and what bulls they are sired by. I also really enjoy watching my grandkids on the farm and when they show at the fair.

Was retiring an easy or hard decision/transition? It was hard at first, because you do not know about the unknown and changing your whole routine. However, after a year or so, I saw that it was working out well for everyone and started to enjoy being retired.

What have you been doing since you retired? We have a very active senior center in town, so I spend time there and get to visit with friends. There are a lot of people there who are very interested to learn about what is going on at the farm. Mark and Terri have a farm Facebook page that they post a lot of things on, and people enjoy following it. Mark and Terri are great with letting people come visit the farm to learn. It is nice because it is really important to connect with people because so many people do not know anything about farming.